Pretoria – Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says President Cyril Ramaphosa is well, following the release of the damning report of the panel chaired by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo which found that there may be a case to answer in relation to Phala Phala.
Gungubele told journalists in Cape Town that Ramaphosa is studying the detailed report, which has caused tremors on the South African political scene.
“How’s the president? He is fine. The fact that he was able to issue a statement yesterday and express his view on the matter thus far, and committed that he is studying the findings, he also expressed the predicament it has placed the country in … he also said an announcement is going to be made in due course,” said Gungubele.
“Our attitude is that we should respect that exercise. These are not findings you can easily wake up and say, this is what I think. We respect that.”
Gungubele said regarding Ramaphosa’s future, he cannot say at this stage.
“The president said he will make a pronouncement in due course. I know at times when these developments occur, there is an attempt to make us some prophets, trying to do fortune-telling. Let us await the president,” said Gungubele.
“The point I want to make is … up to this point, the president has respected the laws of this country. He subjected himself to this process, up to this point. We have not seen anything untoward in as far as the laws of this country are concerned.”
Meanwhile, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, a senior member of the ANC NEC (national executive committee), has called on Ramaphosa to step aside immediately following the damning findings by the independent panel which probed the Phala Phala scandal.
Dlamini Zuma made the call while speaking on the JJ Tabane show Power to Truth on eNCA Wednesday evening.
Dlamini Zuma’s call also comes amid mounting pressure for Ramaphosa to resign or face an impeachment process, having been found to have violated several sections of the country’s revered and sacred Constitution over how he handled the Phala Phala matter that dates back to February 2020.
Reacting to Dlamini Zuma’s calls, Gungubele said the clamouring is not new.
“The call for president to step aside did not come for the first time yesterday. It has been ongoing. To us, it is not new. All we are calling to South Africans is that, the president said he is studying the findings, and in his own statement he will make a pronouncement in due course,” said Gungubele.
“We strongly call South Africa for indulgence, to actually await that.”
At the same briefing, Gungubele said Ramaphosa should be given the opportunity to fully study the report. He said the matter around the money at Phala Phala is a very complex issue.
“If you read the statement (issued by the Presidency), the President says I appreciate the predicament. I remember that word is included. The kind of decision that is taken by the president, it must be informed by a lot of things,” said Gungubele.
“Remember you are dealing here with a president who is subjected to processes for something that happened in his own house, his own property. I’m not sure if you understand this. We are not dealing with somebody who stole from your house.”
He said the issue at hand is quite “unique”.
“It is not an easy decision. I think let us (allow) the president to take an informed decision on the matter. Has got a history of having done that, and he is quite an intelligent president, by the way,” said Gungubele.
Retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo’s three-member Independent Section 89 Panel found Ramaphosa had violated his oath of office in handling the break-in and theft of a huge amount of money in US dollars at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
In a report, which Justice Ngcobo released to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula on Wednesday morning but which was made public in the evening, the panel found that Ramaphosa had committed four serious violations and that there is prima facie evidence against him.
